The cheerleader ignored me. The security guard cried out in pain, staggering backwards into the other officer—but he wasn’t a cop anymore, I realized with horror. As the electricity pulsed through the security guard’s body, it shimmered, and the human appearance seemed to fall away like shredded clothing. What was left was… I don’t even know what it was, honestly. The closest description I could come up with was a giant black pincher bug on two legs.

I screamed bloody freaking murder.

Shailene grabbed my arm again, and this time I ran after her without hesitation. I hadn’t thought I would see anything weirder today than these cheerleaders, but at least they were human. I think.

We raced up the stairs to the train platforms, Shailene leading the way. “What the hell was that thing?” I panted. “And why doesn’t anyone else see it?” After the taser incident, I’d have thought for sure that the station would be pandemonium, but the only person screaming had been me—and no one seemed to have noticed that, either.

“They’re Anesidorans,” Shailene called over her shoulder. “And no one can see them because they don’t want to be seen.” She ducked under a metal guard rail with a sign attached to it that read No Admittance and crouched behind the controller box.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, following her. “Just wanting to be invisible doesn’t make you invisible.” I of all people ought to know that, considering how many times I—or my family—had managed to mortify myself in public. But I kept that addendum to myself.

Shailene rolled her eyes. “It is way too complicated to explain right now. All I want from you is for you to tell me where you saw Leah and Joanie, and then to get the heck out of here before those sentries find us.”

“I told you, I saw the blond girl in Everett. And then…” I swallowed at the memory of the second incident. It seemed a lot more sinister now, after seeing that bug monster down there. “I saw her and another cheerleader on a train heading towards Everett. They were on the roof of the train. And there was a guy with them, a guy in a black trenchcoat.”

Shailene’s already-pale skin went white as a sheet. She’d pulled two tripod-looking devices from…somewhere (did cheerleader uniforms usually have pockets? Where would they fit?), and she froze in the middle of unfolding the legs of the second one. “Goddammit,” she muttered.

“What? What’s the matter?”

She glared at me. “Don’t worry about it. It just means I need to get you out of here before—”

She broke off. The officer with the stripes on his sleeves had appeared at the top of the stairs. He looked human, but after seeing what had happened with his buddy downstairs, I somehow got the feeling that he wasn’t.

“Anyone home?” I called out again. No response. It was obvious that Isaak hadn’t made it here yet. I probably should get out of here before David Hassan turned up and charged me with breaking and entering.

But I paused as I passed the fireplace and noticed a flash of color among the embers. I crouched, looking down at the smoldering fire. The dried spider weeds he’d been using in place of logs had crumbled down to almost nothing, but there was an unburned fragment of paper poking out of the pile of ash. A snatch of blue dress and two embossed letters: DU. A book cover?

I glanced over my shoulder at the fiberboard shelves. Was David Hassan just keeping those books to use as kindling? Seemed a little extreme.

A noise at the door made me jump. Shit. I was busted now. How was I supposed to talk my way out of this one?

Before I could move, the door opened wide and I saw an unfamiliar man in a suit standing in the hallway. Too young to be David Hassan. But that could mean only one thing, and I didn’t like it one bit.

“He’s here, boss,” the man said.

I bolted. GSAF, it had to be. We were caught. The doorway was blocked, so I launched myself towards the fire escape. The man in the doorway hurtled after me, but I was faster—at least, until I collided with another suit standing on the balcony outside. I didn’t have time to recover. My fist swung wildly out at him, but he blocked me easily. We struggled for a minute, but then the first guy caught up and managed to pry me off his buddy. I was finished.

“What the hell do you guys want?” I snarled, spitting a stray hair out of my mouth.

“Ah, Mr. Sandhu,” a voice said behind me. I turned slowly. A tall, narrow man stood in the shadows of the dim living room. “At last we meet. I wondered what was taking you so long.” He stepped closer, the light from the street lamps outside reflecting off a pair of eerie, ice-blue eyes. This could only be one person.

I hope you enjoyed these two excerpts! I’ll have more news about Different Worlds very soon. 😀 And in the meantime, if you’d like to do this challenge yourself, post a link in the comments! I want to see everyone’s WIPs!